A new poll done exclusively for Rogers OMNI TV finds that 72 per cent of Vancouver voters believe their mayor and city council are out of touch with what they want and need.
Respondents were given a list of 19 issues to choose from when it came to what they feel are the most important issues facing their municipality.
According to the poll, conducted by Canada Pulse Insights, the topic that means the most to Vancouverites is affordability and the cost of living (45 per cent). This was followed by housing affordability and home ownership at 33 per cent, then crime, policing, and public safety at 29 per cent. Health care and access to care came in at 25 per cent. Lastly, drug use, the opioid crisis and supervised consumption sites landed at 24 per cent.
John Wright, CEO of Canada Pulse Insights, points out that local politicians aren’t going to be able to solve the affordability issue, but they can alleviate some of the symptoms.
“They can focus on affordable housing, they can focus on freezing taxes, they can make sure that whatever they’re investing in is going to give a proper return to voters,” Wright said.
“But it’s almost like somebody who is being affected by a condition that no doctor can solve, and that is our affordability, which we see every day we go to the store and we pick up something, you want to yell at somebody.”
Both Pete Fry (39 per cent) and Ken Sim (50 per cent) supporters named affordability and cost of living as the most important issue, but there is a difference when it comes to other issues.
For Fry supporters, the poll suggests that they are more concerned with climate change and extreme weather, accountability, ethics and transparency at city hall, parks and recreation and cultural facilities, as well as access to and quality of municipal services.
Sim supporters cite issues such as crime, policing and public safety, municipal taxes, spending and the budget, and traffic congestion and road infrastructure as their most concerned-about topics.
Of those polled, respondents who supported candidates other than Sim were more likely to feel that their mayor and city council were out of touch with what residents want and need. Fry supporters agreed at 81 per cent, with 52 per cent strongly agreeing. Eighty per cent of those supporting Kareen Allam of the Vancouver Liberals agreed and 83 per cent of those supporting Colleen Hardwick of TEAM for a Livable Vancouver agreed.
The poll also shows that Sim supporters hold similar thoughts, with 44 per cent agreeing that the mayor and city council may not have their fingers on the pulse of Vancouverites’ needs and wants.
–With files from Emma Crawford
